Véronique Leroy

Art brut, favelas, the forties, the eighties, "un peu de now"…Véronique Leroy had a lot of jumping-off points for Spring, so it's sort of ironic that there wasn't enough variety on the runway. Jackets came a couple of different ways: The coated-raffia styles at the beginning of the show seemed stiff and maybe scratchy, too, but a couple of others were rendered in a soft, dense knit that still had the strong shoulder all the girls are wearing now. Leroy put them over pencil skirts in stretch jersey with sexy center slits. On the dress front, the designer worked a narrow, ruched silhouette to the knee—to the exclusion of much else. This slim dress came in a nearly sheer nylon in vibrant, pretty shades of lemon and violet that Leroy belted and accessorized with large gold-dipped flower necklaces; a black and white diagonal-striped version had a strong, graphic appeal. This collection was an improvement over last season's, which was overworked with too many fussy details. Next season she would be wise to diversify.